The Evolution of Slapstick Comedy through the Women of SNL

ERIN SULLIVAN

Why Has it Been Around For So Long?

NOT LIKE OTHER SHOWS

Why Am I Interested?

The Origins of Slapstick: Commedia Dell’arte

“a club- like object composed of 2 wooden slats that produce a loud smacking noise when struck together” (Andrin 230)

From Europe to America: Slapstick through the Ages

Silent Film Industry Era

To the

Machine Ages

From American Then to American Now

From the Machine Age

To

Saturday Night Live

Original Slapstick on SNL

Now I am going to focus on….

New Elements of Slapstick

Allusion to reality through character adaptations A portrayal of culturally rejected characters Suffering inflicted upon the source of mockery rather than the

performers

1. Allusion to reality through character adaptations

Tina Fey as Sarah PalinAna Gasteyer as Mary Jo McCullen

2. The portrayal of culturally rejected characters

Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer

Molly Shannon as Mary Katherine Gallagher

3. Suffering inflicted upon the source of mockery rather than the performers

Gilda Radner as Barbara Walters

Maya Rudolph as Whitney Houston

Final Points

The women of SNL have not only played an important role in slapstick comedy by transforming it into what it is today but have also contributed to comedy overall

Through humor, women have integrated themselves into society and broken the stereotype of being a housewife

Thus, with the evolution of slapstick comedy came the evolution of women and enabled them to leave their mark on slapstick comedy today

Works Cited from Paper

Andrin, Muriel. “Back to the ‘Slap’: Slapstick’s Hyperbolic Gesture and the Rhetoric of Violence”. Slapstick Comedy. Ed. Tom Paulus and Rob King. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010. 226- 235. Print.

Burns, Christy L. “Parody and Postmodern Sex: Humor in Thomas Pynchon and Tama Janowitz”. Performing Gender and Comedy: Theories, Texts and Contexts. Ed. Shannon Hengen. Ontario: Overseas Publishers Association, 1998. 149- 166. Print

Debbie Downer at a Birthday Party. Dir. Mike Halterman. Perf. Rachel Dratch and Ben Affleck. NBC. NBC Universal. Web. Gilda Radner SNL. Perf. Gilda Radner. Yahoo! Web. Gunning, Tom. “The Mechanisms of Laughter: the Devices of Slapstick.” Slapstick Comedy. Ed. Tom Paulus and Rob King. New York: Taylor &

Francis, 2010. 137- 151. Print. Johnson, Warren. “The Veiled Laugh: Women, the Body, and the Comic in Nineteenth- Century France.” Performing Gender and Comedy:

Theories, Texts and Contexts. Ed. Shannon Hengen. Ontario: Overseas Publishers Association, 1998. 47- 58. Print. Katrib, Ruba. "TRANSITION GAGS." Art In America 103.6 (2015): 114-21. Web. NPRs Delicious Dish Schweddy Balls. Perf. Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Alec Baldwin. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc. Web. Palin/Hillary Open. Dir. Seth Meyers. Perf. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc Web. Peacock, Louise. Slapstick and Comic Performance: Comedy and Pain. 2014. Print. St. Monicas Talent Auditions. Perf. Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell and Gabriel Byrne. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc. Web. Trahair, Lisa. The Comedy of Philosophy Sense and Nonsense in Early Cinematic Slapstick. Albany: State U of New York, 2007. SUNY Ser.,

Insinuations. Web. Weekend Update: Whitney Houston on Her Summer Plans. Perf. Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler. NBC. NBC Universal. Web.

Pictures

Berman, Marc. Barbara Walters to Reire from TV on May 16. Digital image. Tv Media Insights. TV Media Insights, 7 Apr. 2014. Web.

Berman, Marc. Barbara Walters to Retire From TV on May 16. Digital image. TV Media Insights. TV Media Insights, 7 Apr. 2014. Web.

Bigpandaburr. Homemade Slapstick That Cost Me $15 at Home Depot. Digital image. Reddit. Reddit Inc., n.d. Web.

Bloom Productions Taxi. A grandfather and a teen grandson enjoy a laugh over a cell phone. Digital image. About Parenting. Getty Image, n.d. Web.

Chamberlain, Derek. I Live in a Van Down by the River. Digital image. Moneyahoy. Chamberlain Global, LLC, 15 Sept. 2014. Web.

Consumer Probe: Irvin Mainway. Perf. Dan Aykroyd. NBC. NBC Universal, n.d. Web.

Cover of Women of SNL Dvd. Digital image. Amazon. Amazon.com Inc., n.d. Web.

The Dark Side with Nat X. Dir. Diamond Jim. Perf. Chris Rock and Tracy MOrgan. Yahoo! N.p., n.d. Web.

Down By the River. Perf. Chris Farley. Hulu. NBC Studios, Inc, n.d. Web.

Fowler, H. W. A table of types of humor, from H.W. Fowler ["Modern English Usage," 1926]. Digital image. Tumblr. Vajramrita, n.d. Web.

Future Drummer. The Best in X. Digital image. Red Mosquito. N.p., 25 July 2014. Web.

Gilda Radner as Barbara Walters on SNL. Digital image. Pinterest. Geretro Blogspot, n.d. Web.

Hand writing title, Logline, and Synopsis in bullet points with a ball point pen. Digital image. WikiHow. Mediawiki, n.d. Web.

Lobosco, David. Reads Silence is Golden with Film Reels. Digital image. Great Entertainers' Archive. Blogger, 24 Aug. 2015. Web.

Modern Mechanix. Symbol of the Mechanical Age is the Robot, the iron man-- slave or master? Digital image. Adafruit. Adafruit Industries, LLC, 8 Nov. 2010. Web.

Nielsen. "Saturday Night Live's" Ratings at 40. Digital image. The Wrap Covering Hollywood. The Wrap News Inc., 13 Feb. 2015. Web.

Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer making a contorted face. Digital image. Sundijo. Get Noticed!, n.d. Web.

Still of Dan Aykroyd in Saturday Night Live (1975). Digital image. IMDb. IMDb.com Inc, n.d. Web.

TaraLivesOn. Tina Fey & Sarah Palin Side-by-side on SNL. Digital image. Flickr. Yahoo, 21 Oct. 2008. Web.